Jorge Sampaoli had caused an uproar after his exit. Questioned on Euro 2024 and in particular on the game of the Blues by the magazine So Footthe Argentinian manager had completely slipped up on the subject of Ousmane Dembélé: “When he overflows, the other players are like spectators watching how the action will end. They know that he plays like an autistic person: he starts the action and finishes it alone. He does not have the ability to make a teammate shine, he only knows how to make himself shine”he criticized.
An outing that was heavily commented on social networks and faced with the controversy, the ex-OM coach was forced to respond via a press release: “Explanatory note after my interview in the magazine So Foot : I never meant to refer to autism. I apologize to everyone. I just wanted to talk about individuality. More than ever, we have to be careful about the words we use.”he posted in Portuguese, Spanish and French in an Instagram story.